Jeremiah 31:3 The LORD appeared to him from afar, saying, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness. 32:18 who shows lovingkindness to thousands, but repays the iniquity of fathers into the bosom of their children after them, O great and mighty God. The LORD of hosts is His name;
Ephesians 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love 5 He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.
How does the Lord draw His people to Himself? Is it by what they do or is it by what He does? Is His drawing them to Himself based on their character of His? As the verses just above are viewed, we see that this drawing and this electing took place from eternity past. This should clear the way and help sinners to see that they have no way of making themselves acceptable to God and they have no way of coming to the Lord on the merits of their works and abilities. God loved His people with an everlasting love and because of that He draws them with lovingkindness. People don’t come to God based on their own love, works, or choices, but because of God’s love, works, and choices. People are drawn by God to themselves and as such they should seek Him to draw them to Himself rather than try to please Him by their own fleshly works.
It seems as if even in the “Reformed” world today that evangelism is nothing more than what an Arminian or even Pelagian would say and do. While the theology may or may not be a little better, it is the same methodology and the stress is put upon the sinner to do something in his or her own strength. This couldn’t be any more wrong. God must draw the person if they are going to come to Him and the person that thinks s/he comes to Him in his or her own strength is sadly mistaken, not to mention deceived. As Jesus said, “Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me” (John 6:45). It is not those who have decided to come who come, but when the Gospel is preached in truth people will see that they must come when taught of the Father.
This may seem like such a small thing to so many, but this is an utterly vital point in the Gospel of grace alone. It is not the strength of man and the will of man that brings men to God, because that is impossible. Men are totally depraved and they hate God and are at enmity with Him. Nothing will overcome the enmity of their nature but grace and grace alone. Sure enough men think that they love God when the Arminian (or an Arminian in Reformed dress) tells the person that God loves them since men will love those that love them, but men must be reconciled from the heart to love the true God. Men must have a new heart and they must be drawn by the grace of God with cords of omnipotent power if they are going to come.
In Isaiah 53 we saw (Gospel of Grace Alone 23) all the pronouns and of how the Servant (Christ) suffered in the place of sinners. In the sufferings of Christ, both body and soul, He purchased the bodies and souls of His people. He purchased the Holy Spirit for them who would convict them of sin and give them new hearts. He purchased love and grace for them so that they could be drawn by that lovingkindness based on Christ rather than themselves. Oh how this great and glorious Gospel is set forth in Scripture in both Old and New Testaments, but men try to bring some little work at some point in it. They try to bring some little work in the coming to Christ or making a decision for Christ. When they do so, however, they deserve to hear the words of Paul as he condemned those who would add works to the Gospel. The Gospel is of grace alone and men must bow in both heart and mind to the sovereign Lord who alone can draw by His grace and save by His grace.
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